Hiya, thank you for all the warm welcomes
Nicky - hi there, our sons sound quite similar, we were lucky really, as our son attended a NHS unit for youngsters under 5 with autism, they had two groups of youngsters and he went twice a week for half a day each time from 3 years old for 18 months until he started school last September. As he was part of this unit he was already under the umbrella of the early years team - a paediatrician, speech therapist, early years advisor and educational psychologist etc and the application for a statement was automatic and his transfer into school, thankfully, went well too.
At the time he was totally non verbal, in nappies, head banged when thwarted, would not sit on a chair and could not be left for a second on his own as he would wander off with no regard for safety etc so there was no way he could have gone into mainstream school without one or a worker beside him. Some of the other children in his group are now in the local special school, others are in mainstream with support.
I have read of other parents problems getting statements for their children and I am really glad we had the support we had as it sounds rather daunting.
So far it is all going really well, we are going through a poor compliance period at the moment but at the same time his speech and comprehension is improving massively so there are big gains also being made. He really enjoys joining in with phonics and reading at school and we believe this is supporting his speech development as well.
He goes into the local special school for one half day a week and the difference now between him and his original friends from the pre school group is obvious so we know we made the right decision. In fact we now wonder if some of the bad behaviour he is currently showing is being picked up there.
I hope your application goes smoothly, it sounds as though he needs the extra support.
